Wang Shikuo (1911-1973) was born in Ye County, Shandong province. He studied art at the Aimei Teachers' Training School in Jinan, and later in Peking, Shanghai and Japan (1935-1937). After his return from Japan he moved to Yan'an. In 1949, Wang taught at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

Wang is best known for his oil paintings, yet he is probably best remembered for 'The Bloodstained Shirt' (血衣), a large-sized pencil drawing from 1959 that served as a study for an oil painting that was never made .